US Marine Corps troops have been engaged in military training exercises with the Sri Lankan navy in Trincomalee, after the arrival of the US Naval Ship “USS Somerset” this week.

The Sri Lankan navy said that 7 officers and 150 sailors had undertaken the exercise with over 150 US Marines participating.

The Sri Lankan military has opened a Buddhist site in the Vanni, which contains 28 newly constructed Buddha statues in memory of Sri Lankan soldiers.
 

A notice has been published in a Tamil local newspaper announcing the intention to acquire 617 acres of land in Vattuvahal, Mullaitivu for the Sri Lankan armed forces. 

The notice, under Section 38a of the Land Acquisition Act, comes despite repeated public annoucement by the present Sri Lankan government that it was looking to release all land currently occupied by the military. 

Photograph @rkguruparan

Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesperson, Gayantha Karunatilaka said on Wednesday the government is to consider establishing a media standards body to ensure the media would act with responsility and decorum. 

The government minister said the proprosal, which is to be put for public consultation, was in order "to prevent misinformation, disinformation, character assassinations and publishing half baked news, lies and absolute lies have become the order of the day by both print and electronic media and the worse was the so-called social media that comprises web sites and FM services." 

The former US ambassador at large for war crimes, Stephen Rapp said the Sri Lanka's government's delay in establishing an accountability mechanism could be an attempt to avoid it entirely, in an interview to the Daily FT. 

“The Government could begin setting up those investigation units, a prosecutor’s office that could determine if there are cases and start putting cases together even if the court does not start work immediately,” Mr Rapp told the paper. 

The United States Aid Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a US$13 million partnership with Sri Lanka’s parliament to strengthen accountability and democratic governance in Sri Lanka.

The three-year Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project (SDGAP) looks to improve strategic planning within the government, enhance public outreach and increase political participation of women and underrepresented groups reports Colombo Page.

Bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and China crossed the US$4 billion threshold for the first time said Sri Lanka’s Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Speaking at the inauguration of the second China Products Exhibition (CPE) in Sri Lanka, Mr Bathiudeen commended the Imminent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations adding,

“There is a six fold trade growth within a decade – and this trend would grow further as both countries move towards the proposed FTA.”

The Sri Lankan government announced this week it had agreed to initiate dialogue with Sinhala Buddhist groups, Bodu Bala Sena and Ravana Balaya. 

“The agreement was reached at a meeting I had with members of the Bodu Bala Sena and other groups in the Parliamentary Complex," the minister of justice and Buddhist affairs, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told journalists. 

The announcement follows a spate of recent incidents where Sinhala Buddhist monks have incited racism and directed hate speech towards Tamils and Muslims. 

People in the North can mark Maaveerar Naal (Tamil national remembrance day) without mentioning the LTTE, Sri Lanka's minister for national co-existence, dialogue and official languages minister, Mano Ganeshan was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying this week. 

Stating that it was a human right to remember loved ones, Mr Ganeshan pointed out that the JVP also commemorated their heroes. 

Police disrupted a student birthday celebration only minutes after it had begun at the Balasingham hostel at Jaffna University last night.

Carrying arms, the police stated they came due to an emergency call made to them from the hostel stating that students were being asked to come out for a midnight birthday celebration, but did not identify who called or what they said.

Students also reported that no one came forward to say they had called the police and there had been no emergency situation at the hostel requiring police attention.